


Interlude

by PunkHazard



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 05:44:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6182788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunkHazard/pseuds/PunkHazard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Killua finds it sooner than any of the butlers expected; a quiet, secluded grave in the forest behind the Zoldyck estate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interlude

**Author's Note:**

> teeechnically there's hints of killua/gon and canary/amane but not enough to warrant a tag, i think. set after a hypothetical reunion between K & G after the chairman election arc

Killua finds it sooner than any of the butlers expected; a quiet, secluded grave in the forest behind the Zoldyck estate, Alluka clutching his hand. Gon reads the inscription, the dates, his face twisting in horror and grief as he regards the small pile of coins laid in front of the headstone. 

“Because of me?” 

Killua wants to tell him, No, because he hates the way Gon looks when he’s sad, hates frowns and tears when Gon was the one who showed him what a real smile looked like– but Gotoh died as a direct result of their mission to save him, and Killua’s tired of lying to his best friend. “He wouldn’t’ve regretted it,” Killua says instead, and knows it’s the truth.

“It’s my fault.”

Whatever affirmation Gon was looking for, he doesn’t get it. “No,” Killua says, drawing the line between cause and blame. His assassin’s mind says ‘just business’ but the rest of him remembers Gotoh playing his silly coin games, waking him in the mornings with a gentle shake, dressing his wounds, pressing candies and sweets into his hands, the occasional hair-ruffle any other butler would be (literally) eviscerated for. 

“Killua–”

“It’s Hisoka’s fault. And Illumi’s.” Killua sighs when Gon turns a crushed expression on him, eyes already welling up. “Look,” he points out, “they’re horrible people, and it’s their fault. When I kill them both, I’ll do it for Gotoh’s sake too, alright?”

“He was the nice one,” Alluka tells them, tugging on Killua’s hand, her face despondent. “I liked Gotoh! It says it misses him too.”

“I just said I’d take care of it,” Killua answers, a note of impatience creeping into his voice. Before he can continue, the snap of a twig behind the three of them has Killua whirling on his heel, his Nen flaring before it flickers out. 

Canary stands at attention, looking vaguely amused. Amane seems somewhat startled; butlers can move silently regardless of the environment, and it’s a rare slip. Or not a slip at all, as far as Killua can tell– Gotoh always was a master of subtle warnings.

“Don’t tell anyone I’m back,” Killua orders immediately, to two nods. If they’d seen him and he hadn’t seen them, they would’ve had to report back to Father. By announcing her presence, Canary had stopped up that loophole before Amane could exploit it. 

“Amane,” Canary says sweetly, gesturing toward Gon and Alluka, “if you wouldn’t mind playing a game with Master Alluka and Master Gon.”

“Sure,” Gon says happily, taking Alluka’s hand as she releases Killua’s.

“A game!” Alluka repeats, returning Killua’s wink with an emphatic blink of her own. Then they’ve whisked Amane into a game of tag, leading her into the forest.

“Here,” says Canary, handing a can of Heineken to Killua, who pops it open and pours its contents over the headstone. “Are you alright?”

Killua’s voice seems to drop in temperature, his expression hardening through no discernible change in his Nen. “Where’s Illumi?”

“Out. Maybe for the better.”

“Maybe,” Killua reluctantly agrees, his shoulders slumping. “I can’t beat him just yet.”

“You weren’t supposed to see this,” Canary informs him, her voice and expression soft. “We had–”

“A kiriko impersonate him. I know.” Killua allows a long moment to pass. When no excuses or apologies begin, he flashes her a smile. “I can’t believe you guys didn’t think I would recognize an imposter,” he laughs, “but Gotoh trained you alright.”

“Thank you,” Canary says, and nothing else. They’d known each other for longer than Killua probably realized; when Gotoh left Meteor City, Canary hadn’t even been born yet. Still, he’d promised her mother that he’d come back, and when he did there was only Canary. Then he’d vouched for her, took her under his wing as a butler to the Zoldycks. 

She waits for Killua to change the subject, and when he does, he seems to have already forgotten the prior part of their conversation. Filed it away and locked it into vault in his mind, to come back to when he was capable of acting on it. “You’re with Tsubone and Amane now?”

“Yes,” Canary explains, “it takes many years to complete a butler’s training and mine was not yet finished, so I’ve been put under the care of Tsubone-san.”

Her reputation and power aside, Killua recalls that Canary had finished the bodyguarding part of her training, but Gotoh had been grooming her to be his successor as a supervising butler. Nodding slightly, he looks at her sideways and gestures meaninglessly toward Zoldyck mansion. Waggles his eyebrows. “You and Amane are getting along, huh?”

“That’s irrelevant.” Canary refuses to meet his eyes. “We are colleagues, and our assigned task is to protect the Zoldyck family and estate. Besides, relationships between butlers are prohibited.”

“Who actually follows that rule?”

Canary gives him a knowing smile then, clasps her hands in front of her and glances into the forest, sensing the faint pings of Nen as Gon and Alluka lead Amane through the trees. “The family isn’t held to the same rules as butlers, however.”

“Right,” Killua coughs into his fist, sets the beer can down then stands, arms akimbo. He gives the grave one more appraising look (it's simple and austere; Gotoh would've approved), nods. “Let’s catch up to them, I need to get Gon and Alluka out of here before my parents wise up to us.”


End file.
